The present invention relates to a mechanism for nesting an optical fiber in an optical coupler and providing positive stop opening and closing positions for the coupler, the mechanism functioning to provide a first positive stop position whereat a loading mechanism of the optical coupler is positioned so that easy fiber insertion into and out of the optical coupler is possible, the mechanism having another positive stop position whereat an optical fiber is disposed within a carefully oriented and predetermined nest path within a bent groove and urged therein by a resilient force so as to result in predictable and consistent coupling efficiencies between an electrooptic transducer and a core of the fiber.
Optical fiber transmission systems are widely preferred over metallic transmission systems due to the enhanced bandwidth capability of optical fiber and its immunity to EMI and RMI interference. A continuing problem with optical fiber systems is the provision of optimum craft friendly couplers for coupling light between an electrooptic transducer and an optical fiber core.
Campbell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,728,169 describes a user friendly optical fiber coupler whereby light is coupled between a fiber core and the transducer by passing the light through a buffer of the optical fiber, and further preferred embodiments thereof are described by Uken in U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,584; Koht et al. in U.S. Pat. application Ser. No. 252,915 filed Sept. 30, 1988, now abandoned; Uken et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 4,889,403; Campbell et al. in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 137,317 filed Dec. 13, 1987; and Uken in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 213,642 filed June 30, 1988; the disclosures of which are all incorporated herein by reference. Though these coupler structures yield a user friendly means of coupling optical signals onto and off of optical fibers, a continuing need exists to render assembly and disassembly of such couplers yet even further user friendly.